81 FR 51838 - Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; Extension of Compliance Deadlines for Certain Inactive Surface Impoundments; Response to Partial Vacatur

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 151 (August 5, 2016)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is proposing to extend for certain inactive coal combustion residuals (CCR) surface impoundments the compliance deadlines established by the regulations for the disposal of CCR under subtitle D of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These revisions are being proposed in response to a partial vacatur ordered by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) on June 14, 2016.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 151 (Friday, August 5, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51838-51839]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-18325]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 257

[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2016-0274; FRL-9949-43-OLEM]


Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System: Disposal of Coal 
Combustion Residuals From Electric Utilities; Extension of Compliance 
Deadlines for Certain Inactive Surface Impoundments; Response to 
Partial Vacatur

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or the Agency) is 
proposing to extend for certain inactive coal combustion residuals 
(CCR) surface impoundments the compliance deadlines established by the 
regulations for the disposal of CCR under subtitle D of the Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). These revisions are being 
proposed in response to a partial vacatur ordered by the United States 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) on 
June 14, 2016.

DATES: Written comments must be received by August 22, 2016. Comments 
postmarked after the close of the comment period will be stamped 
``late'' and may or may not be considered by the Agency.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OLEM-2016-0274, at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any 
comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) 
or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a 
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment 
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA 
will generally not consider comments or comment contents located 
outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other 
file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA 
public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, 
and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit

[[Page 51839]]

https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information concerning this 
proposed rule, contact Steve Souders, Office of Resource Conservation 
and Recovery, Environmental Protection Agency, 5304P, Washington, DC 
20460; telephone number: (703) 308-8431; email address: 
[email protected]. For more information on this rulemaking please 
visit https://www.epa.gov/coalash.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    This proposed rule applies only to those owners or operators of 
inactive CCR surface impoundments that meet all three of the following 
conditions: (1) Complied with the requirement at 40 CFR 257.105(i)(1) 
by placing in their facility's written operating record a notification 
of intent to initiate closure of the CCR unit as required by 40 CFR 
257.100(c)(1), no later than December 17, 2015; (2) complied with the 
requirement at 40 CFR 257.106(i)(1) by providing notification to the 
relevant State Director and/or appropriate Tribal authority by January 
19, 2016, of the intent to initiate closure of the CCR unit; and (3) 
complied with the requirement at 40 CFR 257.107(i)(1) by placing the 
notification of intent to initiate closure of the CCR unit on the owner 
or operator's publicly accessible CCR Web site no later than January 
19, 2016.
    If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this 
action to a particular entity, consult the person listed in the 
preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

B. Why is EPA issuing this proposed rule?

    This action proposes to extend the deadlines for the owners and 
operators of those inactive CCR surface impoundments that had taken 
advantage of the ``early closure'' provisions of 40 CFR 257.100, who 
became newly subject to the rule's requirements for existing CCR 
surface impoundments on June 14, 2016 when the United States Court of 
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) ordered the 
vacatur of those provisions. This proposed rule provides time for these 
owners and operators to bring their units into compliance with the 
rule's substantive requirements, but does not otherwise amend the rule 
or otherwise impose new requirements on those units. In the ``Rules and 
Regulations'' section of this Federal Register, we have also published 
a direct final rule for this same action because we view this as a 
noncontroversial action and anticipate no adverse comment. We have 
explained our reason for this in the preamble to the direct final rule.
    If we receive no adverse comment, we will not take further action 
on this proposed rule and the direct final rule will become effective 
as provided in that action. If we do receive adverse comment, we will 
publish a timely notice in the Federal Register withdrawing the direct 
final rule and it will not take effect. We will address all public 
comments in any subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. We 
do not intend to institute a second comment period on this action. Any 
parties interested in commenting must do so at this time, for further 
information about commenting on this rule see the ADDRESSES section of 
this document.

C. Where is the location of regulatory text for this proposal?

    The regulatory text for this proposal is identical to that for the 
direct final rule published in the Rules and Regulations section of the 
Federal Register. For further supplemental information, the detailed 
rationale for the proposal, and the regulatory revisions, see the 
information provided in the direct final rule published in the Rules 
and Regulations section of this Federal Register.

II. Statutory Authority

    These regulations are established under the authority of sections 
1006(b), 1008(a), 2002(a), 4004, and 4005(a) of the Solid Waste 
Disposal Act of 1970, as amended by the Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA), as amended by the Hazardous and Solid 
Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA), 42 U.S.C. 6906(b), 6907(a), 6912(a), 
6944, and 6945(a).

III. Statutory and Executive Order (EO) Reviews

    For a complete discussion of all of the administrative requirements 
applicable to this action, see the direct final rule in the Rules and 
Regulations section of this Federal Register.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 257

    Environmental protection, Beneficial use, Coal combustion products, 
Coal combustion residuals, Coal combustion waste, Disposal, Hazardous 
waste, Landfill, Surface impoundment.

    Dated: July 26, 2016.
Gina McCarthy,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2016-18325 Filed 8-4-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P